Reform coming? Two broadband bills clear Congressional committees

Congress has a couple of ideas for bettering US broadband: collect better data …

Congress carved out time yesterday to deal with two different broadband bills, both of which moved forward and out of committee.

In the House, the Broadband Census of America Act cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is headed for a vote before the full body. The bill is designed to gather better data on broadband deployments and availability; without that sort of data, it's hard to get a good picture of the US broadband landscape, and the FCC's current data collection practices leave much to be desired.

The new bill forces providers to report advertised speeds as well as exact subscriber numbers, and it directs the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop a web-available map that shows broadband access data down to the ZIP+4 level.

The bill cleared a House subcommittee back on October 12, so it's making relatively speedy progress through the legislative sausage grinder. The Senate, which is considering a similar bill of its own, has yet to vote on that measure.

The Senate did take action on broadband today, though, as the Senate Commerce Committee passed the Community Broadband Act. The bill makes it easier for municipalities to launch public/private partnerships to bring broadband to local residents. Ted "Don't Clog My Tubes" Stevens (R-AK), who chairs the committee, said in a statement, "Broadband services are essential to providing important educational and economic opportunities, especially for rural areas." He hopes the bill will give rural residents the ability to band together and form their own ISP solution where none exists or coverage is spotty.

In addition to encouraging such partnerships (which have worked quite well already in Kentucky and other states), the Community Broadband Act also trumps any state or local laws that would bar public providers from offering Internet access. If municipalities do get into the ISP game, though, the bill makes clear that they will be expected to comply with all federal telecommunications rules.

The bill has the support of nonprofits like EDUCAUSE, Free Press, and the Media Access Project, along with corporate backing from companies like Google and Intel.